Pathfoot Rocks!

Stirling in Revolt, Rock, and Royalty

While going through old university press clippings, ticket stubs, and scanned gig flyers, one detail came up, and it was a strange coincidence. In the space of just two years, Stirling was visited by two very different Queens. First, in 1972, came Her Majesty the Queen, and with her came protests. Students sat in hallways and gathered on the grass, frustrated with cuts to grants and worsening conditions on campus. Tensions spilled into Bridge of Allan, where shopkeepers and bus drivers refused to serve or stop for students. It was the kind of unrest that ended up in national newspapers.

But it’s the other Queen that’s taken on near-mythic status because in March of 1974, just before Seven Seas of Rhye cracked the top ten, Queen played Stirling as part of their Queen II tour. The band performed inside the Pathfoot building (not exactly built for stadium rock) and by the time they reached their third encore, the crowd wasn’t ready to go home. Something shifted and reports say a small riot broke out which resulted in two members of Queen’s road crew being injured and taken to hospital, and their next show in Birmingham had to be rescheduled. No one knew at the time that they were watching one of Britain’s biggest future acts blow the roof off a university building. Stories from that night have lived on for decades, passed between friends and remembered vividly by anyone lucky (or unlucky) enough to be there.

The Stirling Popular Music Archive is collecting materials from moments like this. If you have anything tucked away relating to Pathfoot gigs you attended (posters, photos of the band or the crowd, ticket stubs, anything at all) we’d love to see it. Do not fear, we’re not asking for permanent donations, these items can be borrowed briefly, scanned for the archive, and returned with care. Every scrap helps build a fuller picture of Stirling’s musical history that we wish to keep alive to show how it wasn’t all quiet on campus.

Alicia Napolitano, MSc Heritage student

(Post) Punk poses…

Contact sheet of photographs taken by Les Cook of bands playing the university’s Pathfoot building in 1979-1980. Includes The Undertones and Siouxsie and the Banshees. The concerts took place in the Pathfoot Dining Room, which was a larger space than it is today. Many of the images show the Mary Martin Mural, which is now located in the Pathfoot Crush Hall as part of the University Art Collection’s permanent display.

Read all about it…

Brig, the university’s student newspaper, provides details of many of the most memorable musical acts to visit Stirling. The Brig Digital Archive provides online access to the first 25 years of the paper beginning with its first issue published in October 1969.